River Dell Board of Education introduces preliminary budget

The River Dell Board of Education introduced its approximate $31.6 million preliminary budget in which the average homeowner in River Edge will see a $156 tax increase. The average Oradell homeowner will see an $86 increase.

The River Dell Board of Education introduced its $31,642,435 preliminary budget for 2014-2015 at a meeting on March 18.

The budget calls for a $27,786,252 tax levy, which will allow the district to hire two additional teachers and one supervisor, according to Board Secretary Thomas L. Bonfiglio.

The debt service equals an approximate $1.5 million.

Under the preliminary plan, Oradell would see an increase of $86 for the average assessed home, valued at $472,198. River Edge would see a $156 increase per average assessed home, valued at $381,203.

With approximately 1,673 students in the district, only eight more students were added to enrollment this year. There are about 1,100 high school students and 573 middle school students.

River Dell officials learned last month that the district will receive a slight increase in state aid, according to 2014-2015 budget figures released by Gov. Christie's office.

From 2000-2010, River Dell received about $1 million in aid, but that stopped in 2010, when the district received no money at all.

Over the past few years, however, the amount has ticked back up to more than $600,000.

As it stands now, River Dell will receive $666,153 in state aid, which is approximately $34,000 more than last year. The money from the state of New Jersey will go toward Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments and pupil growth.

According to Bonfiglio, every district has to give back some of that state aid to Trenton for the School Development Authority (SDA), which allocates money for special needs districts and vocational schools as well as for regular operating districts. The district will have to give back $60,287 to the state, which leaves about $605,000 leftover for River Dell, Bonfiglio said.

Staff, administration and faculty salaries and benefits are the biggest expenses in the district's spending plan, at more than 70 percent of the budget. Other funds go toward debt service, tuition, utilities, sports, clubs, supplies and transportation, instruction, special education and maintenance.

"The key fact for all of our budget is that approximately $1.9 million of our $31 million of our entire budget is directly related to children," Bonfiglio said

The tax share from River Edge and Oradell has begun to equal out, Bonfiglio said.

"One of the things we truly need to discuss is what we call the percent share - the divvy up of taxes between the boroughs. Over the years, it's been a moment of contention and going into the 2013-2014 school year, compared to 2012-2013, there was a significant shift in the percent shares," he said.

"It had to do with the reevaluation of both of the boroughs, when the shift was 1.5 percent, a significant change," he continued. "That's why you had one community's taxes go down and another one's go up.

"I mentioned last year that all things being equal that it should flatten out and it did," he continued. "If you look at Oradell, it went down by .5 percent and River Edge went up by .5 percent."

The public hearing and final vote on the budget will take place on April 28.